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Reprinted  from  the  Educational  Review,  New  York,  April,  i<5|02^.^ .  >  ^'{^MK!^- 
Copyright,  1902,  by  Educational  Review  Publishing  Co.  rx- 


EDUCATION  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS 


In  a  previous  article  the  educational  process  was  considered 
from  the  standpoint  of  individual  development.  The  indi- 
vidual was  regarded  as  a  term  in  a  morphological  series  ex- 
tending back  to  the  beginning  of  life  upon  the  planet.  The 
physical,  social,  and  psychological  influences  exerted  upon  that 
series,  and  producing  the  modification  of  form  and  function 
which  has  progressively  adapted  its  members  to  their  physical 
and  social  environment,  were  denominated  educational  factors, 
and  the  whole  process  of  organic  development  was  considered 
as  essentially  an  educational  process.  That  is  to  say,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  individual  was  presented  as  an  evolutionary  process 
extending  beyond  the  school,  and  beyond  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual ;  beginning,  in  fact,  with  the  protoplasmic  organism  and 
culminating  in  the  life  experience  of  the  existing  individual 
who,  with  comparatively  few  of  his  ancestors,  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  special  set  of  influences  known  as  education  in  the 
narrow  sense — that  is,  the  education  of  the  school.  The  school 
education  of  the  individual  was  thus  seen  to  be  merely  a  factor 
in  a  biological,  psychic,  and  social  or  moral  process  of  develop- 
ment, and  yet  a  factor  which  undertakes  to  control,  and  to  a 
considerable  degree  does  control,  that  process.  It  was  shown 
to  be  the  conscious  and,  from  the  standpoint  of  economy,  the 
culminating  phase  of  a  process  begun,  carried  on  to,  and  in- 
fluenced thru  the  school  period,  and  the  remaining  life  of  the 
individual,  by  the  forces  of  nature.  In  the  present  article  our 
purpose  is  to  sketch  the  process  of  social  development,  and  to 
consider  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the  evolution  of  society. 

Society,  or  better  a  social  group — tribe,  state,  nation,  or  race 
— may  be  conceived  as  a  unit  having  its  origin  in  time,  and 
having  its  own  peculiar  experience  and  history.  Like  the  in- 
dividual, each  social  group  has  been  subjected  to  external  and 
internal  influences  which  have  produced  its  peculiar  spirit  and 

355 

263408  ' 


356  Educa tional  Review 

organization.  The  totality  of  these  influences  must  be  credited 
with  having  brought  about  the  entire  series  of  social  changes 
which  have  progressively  adapted  the  social  group  to  its 
physical  and  societary  environment.  In  other  words,  the  evo- 
lution of  the  social  group,  or  of  society,  is  a  process  similar  to 
that  of  the  evolution  of  the  individual.  Social  progress,  or 
what  Mr-  -Herbert  Spencer  calls  superorganic  evolution,  may, 
like  the  evolution  of  the  individual,  be  looked  upon  as  essen^' 
tially  an  educational  process.  In  social  evolution,  however, 
the  recipient  of  the  evolutionary — that  is,  educational — in- 
fluences is  primarily  the  social  group  and  not  the  individual. 
We  may  thus  be  warranted  in  speaking  of  the  education  of 
society,  or  of  a  people,  as  well  as  of  the  education  of  a  person. 
In  such  education  the  school  is  merely  a  device  of  intelligence 
to  guide  and  hasten  social  development  in  the  direction  of  a 
desired  end.  The  place  and  function  of  the  school  will  most 
clearly  appear,  however,  when  we  have  analyzed  the  social 
evolutionary  process. 

I  shall  -not  stop  here  to  argue  that  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
applies  to  social  development  as  well  as  to  the  development  of 
organic  forms.  This  is  assumed.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  and 
other  students  of  society  and  social  institutions  have  shown, 
not  only  that  there  is  a  general  evolution  of  things  social,  but 
also  that  the  theory  of  natural  selection  applies  in  all  its  details 
to  the  development  of  social  groups.  The  factors  are  the  same 
as  in  organic  evolution,  namely,  variation,  heredity,  and  the 
struggle  for  existence,  but  variation  and  heredity  are  social 
rather  than  biological,  and  the  struggle  is  primarily  a  conflict 
of  group  with  group  instead  of  a  conflict  of  individual  with 
individual.  In  this  conflict  the  fittest  group,  not  necessarily 
the  best,  survives.  lAVe  may,  therefore,  speak  of  the  natural 
selection  of  social  groups,  as  we  have  spoken  of  the  natural 
selection  of  individual  organisms.  Within  the  group  there 
goes  on,  of  course,  a  selective  process  with  reference  to  indi- 
viduals, ideas,  customs,  laws,  and  institutions.  The  factors 
here,  too,  are  homologous  to  those  in  organic  evolution. 
There  ism^^'difiference  in  principle.  The  law  of  evolution,  then, 
we  may  assume,  is  exemplified  in  the  progress  of  every  tribe. 


IQ02]  Education  and  social  progress  /  357  ,/ 

state,  nation,  or  race,  and  is  clearly  displayed  in  the  develop- 
ment of  all  products  of  human  thought  and  action.  "  The  ad- 
vance from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  thru  a  process  of  suc- 
cessive differentiations,"  says  Mr.  Spencer,  "  is  seen  alike  in 
the  earliest  changes  of  the  universe  to  which  we  can  reason  our 
way  back,  and  in  the  earliest  changes  which  we  can  induct- 
ively establish;  it  is  seen  in  the  geologic  and  climatic  evolu- 
tion of  the  earth,  and  of  every  single  organism  on  its  surface; 
it  is  seen  in  the  evolution  of  humanity,  whether  contemplated 
in  the  civilized  individual,  or  in  the  aggregations  of  races;  it  is 
seen  in  the  evolution  of  society,  in  respect  alike  of  its  political, 
its  religious,  and  its  economical  organization;  and  it  is  seen  in 
the  evolution  of  all  those  endless  concrete  and  abstract  products 
of  human  activity  which  constitute  the  environment  of  our 
daily  life."  ^ 

Holding  in  mind,  then,  the  conception  of  a  developing  social 
group,  we  may  describe  the  social  evolutionary  process  which 
results  primarily  in  the  education  of  the  social  group,  in  the 
same  manner  that  was  employed  in  outlining  the  development 
of  the  individual.  The  process  of  group  development,  like 
that  of  individual  development,  may  be  divided  into  ;iiatural  or 
genetic,  and  artificial  or  telic  evolution.  The  natural  evolution 
of  the  social  group,  so  far  as  it  is  progressive,  has  resulted  from 
the  operation  of  external  causes,  or  from  the  activities  of  the 
members  of  the  group  undirected  towards  a  social  end. 
Natural  social  evolution  is  a  resultant  of  the  reactions  of  the 
group  upon  its  environment,  and  the  activities  of  its  members 
directed  towards  the  satisfaction  of  their  desires  without 
thought  of  the  effect  of  these  activities  upon  social  develop- 
ment. It  is  wholly  unintended.  Looking  back  at  the  his- 
torical development  of  society,  for  instance,  we  can  see  that 
social  progress  has  sometimes  been  achieved  without  its  being 
aimed  at  by  anybody.  This  phase  of  the  development  of  a 
social  group  corresponds  exactly  to  the  natural  development  of 
the  biological  organism.  It  is  the  education  which  Nature 
gives  to  the  social  group  thru  its  unconscious  experience  with 
its  objective  and  subjective  environment. 

^  First  principles,  p.  359. 


35^  Educational  Review  [April 

The  true  character  of  this  natural,  or  genetic,  social  progress,, 
and  its  inferiority  to  artificial,  or  telic,  progress,  has  been  more 
clearly  set  forth  by  Professor  Ward  than  by  any  other  writer.^ 
"  The  primary  characteristic  of  genetic  social  progress,"  he 
says,  ''  is  that  it  results  from  the  actions  of  men  that  directly 
flow  from  their  efforts  to  satisfy  their  desires.  It  is  this,  too, 
which  gives  it  its  distinctively  genetic  character.  Genesis  is 
becoming,  and  whatever  is  genetically  produced  is  the  result  of 
a  vis  a  tergo  molding  it  into  shape  by  successive  impacts.  The 
ifnpinging  body  is  in  direct  and  intimate  contact  with  the  one 
that  is  being  molded.  The  change  produced  is  gradual,  and 
the  process  is  one  of  development  or  evolution.  Social 
progress  is  in  this  respect  analogous  tO'  organic  progress,  or 
even  to  cosmic  progress.  It  is  never  sudden  or  rapid.  It  does 
not  take  place  by  leaps  or  strides.  Increment  after  increment 
is  slowly  added  to  social  as  to  animal  structures,  and  in  the 
course  of  ages  habits,  customs,  liws,  and  institutions  are 
changed,  or  abolished  and  replaced  by  others.  As  the  object  of 
all  these  activities  is  always  the  fuller  satisfactiqn  of  desire,  and 
as  such  satisfaction  results  in  self-preservation  and  race-con- 
tinuance, the  effect  in  the  long  run,  under  the  ever-present  law 
of  selection,  is  to  produce  superior  races.  This  effect,  how- 
ever, is  biologic,  or  rather  ethnologic.  The  sociologic  effect 
is  to  adapt  the  environment,  i.  e.,  to  improve  the  conditions  of 
existence.  This  is  social  progress,  but,  like  organic  progress, 
it  may  and  does  result  in  the  extinction  of  deficient  and  the 
preservation  of  efficient  races  and  institutions." 

In  another  place  the  form  of  social  progress  now  under  con- 
sideration has  been  called  by  Professor  Ward  passive,  or  nega- 
tive, social  progress.  "  Society  is  regarded,"  he  says,  "  as 
passive  in  the  sense  of  being  sirilply  acted  upon  by  the  forces 
that  surround  it  and  operate  within  it.  It  is  conceived  as  nega- 
tive from  the  absence  of  any  forces  extraneous  to  those  regular 
natural  forces  operating  in  the  direction  of  their  limitation  or 
modification."  ^  The  natural  process  of  group  development, 
then,  is  exactly  parallel  with  that  we  have  called  the  natural 
education  of  the  individual. 

'See  his  Outlines  of  sociology,  chapters  x  and  xii. 
*  Dynamic  sociology.  Vol.  I.  p.  56. 


1902]  Education  and  social  progress  359 

i  The  natural  education,  or  evolution,  of  the  social  group,  the 
social^genesis,  is  produced  by  factors  operating  from  without 
and  within,  and  which  may  be  designated  as  external  and  in- 
ternal factors.  The  external  factors  are  physical  (climate,  ^ 
configuration  of  land  surface,  flora,  fauna,  etc.),  and  societary*^ 
(tribes,  states,  nations,  or  races  with  which  a  group  is  brought 
into  contact).  (  Those  acting  within  the  group,  that  is,  the  per- 
sonal and  institutional  influences  affecting  the  development  of 
the  group,  may  be  called  social.  i^Hence  natural  social  evolu- 
tion may  be  divided,  with  respect  to  the  forces  operating  to 
produce  unintended  progressive  changes,  into  physical,  socie- 
tary,  and  social.  |  j  /  '^ 
\  As  to  the  physical  education  of  the  social  group,  it  is  obvious 
that  modifications  of  social  structure  and  character  are  pro- 
duced by  topographical,  climatic,  floral,  and  faunal  influences 
exerted  upon  it.  The  observance  of  the  multiform  results  of 
such  influences  in  the  various  human  societies  has  led  certain 
sociologists  to  endeavor  to  explain  society  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  physical  environment.  Buckle,  for  instance,  attributed 
enormous  social  results  to  the  influence  of  physical  agents.* 
He  held  that  the  general  aspect  of  nature — ^by  which  he  meant 
*'  those  appearances  which,  tho  presented  chiefly  to  the  sight, 
have,  thru  the  medium  of  that  or  other  senses,  directed  the 
association  of  ideas,  and  hence  in  different  countries  have  given 
rise  to  different  habits  of  national  thought " — produces  in- 
evitable and  far-reaching  results  in  stimulating  the  imagination 
and  suggesting  the  innumerable  superstitions  which  have  stood 
in  the  way  of  advancing  knowledge.  "  As,  in  the  infancy  of 
the  people,  the  power  of  such  superstition  is  supreme,"  he  says, 
*'  it  has  happened  that  the  various  aspects  of  Nature  have 
caused  corresponding  varieties  in  the  popular  character,  and 
have  imparted  to  the  national  religion  peculiarities  which, 
tinder  certain  circumstances,  it  has  been  impossible  to  efface."  ^ 
To  the  character  of  the  climate,  soil,  and  food  he  ascribed  in 
large  measure  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth  upon 
which  the  progress  of  civilization  so  largely  depends.  Un- 
doubtedly outward  physical  circumstances  have  had  much  to 

*See  his  History  of  civilization  in  England,  Vol.  I.  chap.  ii.  *  Qp^  ^n^ 


360  Educational  Review  [April 

do  with  national  peculiarities,  and  the  variations  of  primitive 
communities  are  unquestionably  due,  to  a  considerable  extent^ 
to  the  geographic  factors  operating  upon  them.  The  group, 
then,  undergoes  a  natural  physical  development,  or  education,, 
as  does  the  individual. 

I  The  aim,  or  goal,  of  the  natural  physical  process  we  have 
been  considering  is  the  adaptation  of  the  social  group  to  its 
physical  environment.  I  It  is  identical  with  the  aim  in  the 
natural  physical  education  of  the  individual.  The  means  are 
also  the  same,  and  the  method  is  natural  selection.  The  out- 
come of  the  whole  process  is  slow  modification  of  the  social 
group  in  the  direction  of  adaptation  to  its  physical  environ- 
ment.    The  factors  of  the  process  are  physical  agents. 

Physical  agents,  however,  are  not  the  only  external  factors 
in  the  development  of  a  social  group.  In  addition  to  these 
must  be  considered  the  social  groups  which  thru  friendly  or 
hostile  contact  exert  an  influence  upon  the  developing  group, 
like  that  which  one  individual  exerts  upon  another.  ^There 
can  be  no  question  but  that  in  the  evolution  of  a  social  group 
societary  influences,  that  is,  those  arising  from  contact  with 
other  social  groups,  have  been  quite  as  effective  as  the  physical 
influences.  I  There  is  a  class  of  sociological  writers  who  are 
disposed  to  exalt  these  societary  influences  to  the  highest  rank 
among  the  factors  of  social  development.  Gumplowicz,  the 
Austrian  sociologist,  for  instance,  contends  that  the  social 
process  begins  with  the  interaction  of  social  groups.  "  When 
two  or  more  distinct  groups  come  in  contact,"  he  says,  "  when 
each  enters  the  spheres  of  the  other's  operations,  a  social  process 
always  ensues.  So  long  as  one  unitary,  homogeneous  group 
is  not  influenced  by  or  does  not  exert  influence  upon  another  it 
persists  in  the  original  primitive  state.  Hence,  in  distant 
quarters  of  the  globe,  shut  off  from  the  world,  we  find  hordes 
in  a  state  as  primitive,  probably,  as  that  of  their  forefathers  a 
million  years  ago.  .  .  But  as  soon  as  one  group  is  exposed  to 
the  influence  of  another,  the  interplay  of  mutual  forces  ensues 
inevitably,  and  the  social  process  begins."  ®  Too  much  in- 
fluence is  here  ascribed  to  the  societary  factors.     Nevertheless^ 

*  Outlines  of  sociology  (Eng.  trans.),  p.  85. 


1902]  Education  and  social  progress  361 

it  is  easily  seen  that  the  reactions  of  the  hostile  and  friendly 
intercourse  of  one  group  with  another  manifest  themselves  in 
the  greater  cohesion,  the  better  organization,  of  the  groups 
involved. 

)  The  goal  of  the  development  of  a  social  group,  so  far  as  the 
present  phase  of  the  process  is  concerned,  is  adaptation  to  its 
societary  environment.  I  There  is  still  no  conscious  use  of 
means,  and  no  intelligent  method.  Natural  selection  still  holds 
undisputed  sway.  The  struggle  for  survival  usually  takes  the 
form  of  war.  /  War,  therefore,  has  served  the  same  purpose  in 
the  development  of  social  groups  |as  physical  combat  in  the  de- 
velopment of  individuals.  ''We  must  recognize  the  truth," 
says  Mr.  Spencer,  "  that  the  struggles  for  existence  between 
societies  have  been  instrumental  to  their  evolution.  Neither  ^ 
the  consolidation  and  re-consolidation  of  small  groups  into 
large  ones;  nor  the  organization  of  such  compound  and  doubly 
compound  groups;  nor  the  concomitant  developments  of  those 
aids  to  a  higher  life  which  civilization  has  brought;  would  have 
been  possible  without  inter-tribal  and  inter-national  conflicts.  \ 
Social  co-operation  is  initiated  by  joint  defense  and  offense;! 
and  from  the  co-operation  thus  initiated,  all  kinds  of  co- 
operations have  arisen.  Inconceivable  as  have  been  the  horrors  ,  ,  ^7  / 
caused  by  this  universal  antagonism  which,  beginning  with  the 
chronic  hostilities  of  small  hordes  tens  of  thousands  of  years 
ago,  has  ended  in  the  occasional  vast  battles  of  immense 
nations,  we  must  nevertheless  admit  that  without  it  the  world  i 
would  still  have  been  inhabited  only  by  men  of  feeble  type§J/\,V^ 
sheltering  in  caves  and  living  on  wild  food."  ^ 
i  It  should  be  observed,  in  passing,  however,  that  as  a  method 
of  social  progress  war  is  not  to  be  commended.  \  It  is  irrational, 
illustrating  the  waste  characteristic  of  the  methods  of  nature. 
To  call  it  a  method  is  to  speak  figuratively.  It  is  employed  in 
the  realm  of  natural  social  evolution  in  which,  as  has  been 
shown,  it  is  an  accommodation  of  language  to  speak  of  aim  or 
means  or  method.  ^^  It  simply  affords  an  illustration  of  the 
operation  of  the  blinil  forces  of  nature  which  results  in  adapta- 
tion to  environment,  whether  such  adaptation  is  progressive  or 
not.  \ 

"^  Princi-bles  of  sociology.  Vol.  II.  p.  241. 


362  Educational  Review  [April 

'  y 

Turning  now  to  the  third  division  of  natural,  or  genetic, 
social  progress, — that  is,  the  social, — we  find  that  within  the 
group  are  forces  working  unconsciously,  so  far  as  social  evolu- 
tion is  concerned,  and  yet  effectually,  in  promoting  the  im- 
provement of  social  organization.  Such  influences  have  been 
called  psycho-social.® 

Thru  these  psycho-social  influences  the  individuals  within  a 
group  must  to  some  extent  determine  the  general  form  and 
character  of  the  group.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to 
the  interaction  of  the  group  and  its  members.  As  the  group 
may  affect  the  character  of  its  members,  so  the  members  will 
affect  the  development  of  the  group.  ;  Individual  variation,  if 
it  happens  to  be  advantageous  to  the  social  group,  is,  by  a 
process  of  social  selection,  utilized  as  a  means  of  development.  \ 
"^j  Ideas  and  habits  manifesting  themselves  in  a  particular  mem- 
ber of  the  group  are,  by  the  laws  of  suggestion  and  imitation, 
spread  thruout  the  group;  and,  when  they  prove  to  be  advan- 
tageous in  its  struggle  with  other  groups,  they  become  a  factor 
in  its  survival,  il  So  the  members  of  the  social  group,  while 
serving  their  own  individual  ends,  incidentally  ^promote  social 
improvement.  1  The  natural  inequality  of  the  members  of  a 
group,  the  different  degrees  of  utility  in  customs,  institutions, 
etc.,  give  an  opportunity  for  the  play  of  natural  selection  within 
the  group,  and  thus  by  wholly  natural  laws, — the  laws  of  sug- 
gestion, imitation,  repetition,  social  selection,  etc., — the  group 
is  gradually  raised  to  a  higher  plane. 

This  brief  account  of  the  natural  development  of  the  social 
group,  or  what  may  be  called  its  natural  education,  may  serve 
our  purpose  as  well  as  a  more  extended  discussion  of  the  laws 
and  causes  of  the  social  process.  Let  us  now  cast  a  brief 
glance  at  the  same  process  under  its  artificial,  or  telic  aspect. 

jThe  evolution  of  a  social  group  becomes  artificial,  or  telic,  j 
only  when  it  takes  place  as  a  result  of  human  action  consciously 
aimed  at  improving  the  condition  of  the  group.  1  It  depends 
entirely  upon  a  social  teleology  practiced  either  by  one  or  more 
individuals  of  the  group,  or  by  the  group  collectively.  In  the 
first  instance,  the  process  is  due  to  the  foresight  and' socially 

*  Gumplowicz,  op.  cit. 


1902]  Education  and  social  progress  363 

purposive  efforts  of  one  or  more  individuals,  and  in  the  second, 
to  the  consciousness  of  the  social  group  manifesting  itself  in 
efforts  to  promote  its  own  welfare.  The  artificial,  or  telic, 
phase  of  the  social  process  consequently  falls  naturally  into  two 
•divisions,  which  we  may  call  individuotelic  and  sociotelic. 

Individuotelic  social  progress  must  not  be  conceived  as  the 
result  of  the  whole  range  of  individuo-teleology,  or  what  Pro- 
fessor Ward  has  called  individual  telesis.  It  is  due  only  to  that 
form  of  individual  telesis  which  is  applied  to  the  achievement 
of  a  social  end.  Individual  teleology  has,  of  course,  been  prac- 
ticed ever  since  the  dawn  of  intellect.  The  instances  in  which 
it  has  been  applied  to  social  development,  however,  are  rare. 
Certain  individuals  in  the  past — kings,  emperors,  statemen,  and 
the  like — have  identified  their  own  interests  with  those  of  the 
social  group  to  which  they  belonged,  and  have  in  consequence 
employed  design  in  their  endeavor  to  achieve  a  definite  social 
end.  In  still  rarer  instances  individuals  have  made  the  welfare 
of  their  social  group  the  center  of  their  interests  and  the  object 
of  their  endeavors,  and,  having  conceived  an  ideal  destiny  for 
their  group,  or  an  ideal  humanity,  have  striven  consciously  to 
attain  it.  Such  individuals  as  are  represented  by  these  two 
classes  furnish  us  the  only  examples  of  individuotelic  social 
progress. 

When  the  social  group  itself  becomes  conscious  of  its  devel- 
opment, projects  an  aim,  and  sets  about  the  intelligent  employ- 
ment of  means  to  realize  its  aim,  the  process  of  development 
becomes  sociotelic.  Sociotelic  development  is  exactly  parallel 
to  what  I  have  called  the  autotelic  development  of  the  indir 
vidual.  It  takes  place  only  when  the  social  group  takes  its 
affairs  into  its  own  hands,  consciously  formulates  its  own  pur- 
poses, and  strives  to  accomplish  them  in  the  same  manner  as  an 
individual  seeks  to  promote  his  own  welfare.  Obviously  this 
is  the  highest  phase  of  social  development,  the  phase  in  which 
there  is  the  highest  possibility  of  organizing  and  employing 
socially  progressive  forces,  of  which  education  is  potentially  the 
greatest,  to  avoid  friction  and  eliminate  waste.  It  is  to  society 
exactly  what  the  self-conscious  phase  of  his  own  education  is 
to  the  individual. 


3^4 


Educational  Review 


[April 


We  have  now  briefly  analyzed  and  described  the  process  of 
development  with  regard  to  social  groups.  It  has  not  been  our 
purpose  to  present  in  detail  an  explanation  of  social  develop- 
ment, but  rather  to  sketch  a  background  which  may  serve  to 
throw  into  clearer  perspective  certain  questions  in  regard  to  the 
education  of  the  schools.  The  analysis  presented  may  be 
arranged  diagrammatically  in  the  following  form : 


EDUCATION    OF   THE 
SOCIAL  GROUP 

AIM 

MEANS 

METHOD 

Natural  or  Genetic 

Physical 

Adaptation 

Adaptation        to 
physical    envi- 
ronment 

Adaptation        to 
societary  envi- 
ronment 

Adaptation        to 
physical       and 
societary  envi- 
ronment 

Adaptation  (ideal) 

Production        of 
ideal     social 
type    individu- 
ally  conceived 

Production        of 
ideal     social 
type      socially 
conceived 

Environment 

Physical  environ- 
ment 

Societary   envi- 
ronment 

Internal  environ- 
ment 

Artificial       envi- 
ronment 

Artificial       envi- 
ronment,      in- 
cluding      the 
school 

Artificial       envi- 
ronment, espe- 
c  i  a  1 1 y   the 
school  system 

Selection 
Natural  selection 

Societary 

Social 

of  social  groups 
Same  as  above 

Same    as     above 

Artificial  or  Telic 

w.ith  social  se- 
lection   within 
the  group 

The   methods  of 

Individuo-telic 

intelligence 

Legislation,  edu- 
cation, etc., 
employed     b  y 
one  or  more  in- 
dividuals 

Same   as    above. 

Socio-telic 

consciously  em- 
ployed by   the 
group 

In  the  above  analysis  of  social  evolution,  as  in  the  analysis 
of  individual  development,  the  order  is  in  general  from  the 
lowest  or  least  economical  phase  of  the  process  to  the  highest. 
That  is  to  say,  the  classification  is  arranged  with  reference  to 
the  relative  importance  and  value  of  the  various  stages  of  the 
process,  when  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  possible  effective- 
ness and  economy.  Physical,  societary,  and  social  influences, 
in  the  order  named,  are  supposed  to  represent  an  ascending 


1902]  Education  a7id  social  progress  365 

scale  of  efficiency  in  promoting  the  development  of  the  group. 
Artificial  development  is  regarded  as  potentially  superior  to 
the  natural  process,  for  it  is  only  in  this  phase  of  social  develop- 
ment that  intelligence  is  applied  and  economy  practiced  in  the 
realization  of  a  social  end.  The  process  reaches  its  highest 
manifestation  in  sociotelic  evolution.  The  most  thoro  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  of  economy  is  possible  only  in  this  stage. 
I  say  possible,  for  the  reason  that,  in  the  lov^est  stages  of 
sociotelic  development,  the  economy  practiced  may  be  greater 
than  that  employed  in  the  succeeding  stage.  Under  a  benevo- 
lent despotism,  for  instance,  social  organization  may  be  far 
better  than  in  an  incipient  democracy.  Every  people  that  has 
undertaken  to  order  its  own  activities  for  the  achievement  of 
its  own  ends  has  begun  by  Tnanifesting  a  low  degree  of  social 
intelligence.  It  has  stumbled  and  blundered  like  an  infant 
learning  to  walk.  It  is  no  wonder  that,  on  observing  the 
flounderings  of  young  republics,  many  political  writers  have 
been  disposed  to  think  that  a  democratic  form  of  government 
is  inferior  to  an  autocratic  form.  Such,  however,  is  here 
shown  not  to  be  the  case.  However  well  ordered  by  a  benevo- 
lent despot  the  activities  of  a  people  may  be,  they  are  not  self- 
ordered,  and  consequently  the  people  are  not  on  the  road  to  the 
development  of  a  social  intellect  which  is  to  be  a  permanent  and 
increasingly  effective  instrument  in  promoting  social  welfare. 
The  glory  of  a  democracy  is  in  its  possibilities. 

The  sociotelic  phase,  then,  is  the  culminating  phase  of  social 
development.  As  before  remarked,  it  is  to  the  group  what  the 
autotelic  phase  of  individual  development  is  to  the  individual. 
It  is  that  stage  in  which  all  the  lower  agencies  and  methods 
may  be  consciously  employed  to  accelerate  the  evolutionary 
process  by  eliminating  friction  and  the  consequent  waste  of 
energy.  As  the  highest  plane  of  individual  development  is 
reached  when  the  individual  himself  becomes  conscious  of  the 
process,  formulates  his  own  purposes  and  consciously  avails 
himself  of  the  best  means  of  improving  his  own  character,  so 
the  highest  possibility  of  social  economy  is  attained  only  when 
the  group  becomes  conscious  of  its  evolutionary  process  and 
proceeds  to  promote  its  own   welfare  in  the  exact  manner 


/ 


366  Educational  Review  [April 

adopted  by  an  intelligent  individual.  Society,  says  Professor 
Ward,  **  should  imagine  itself  an  individual,  with  all  the 
interests  of  an  individual,  and  becoming  fully  conscious  of 
these  interests  it  should  pursue  them  with  the  same  indomitable 
zvill  with  which  the  individual  pursues  his  interests.  Not  only 
this,  it  must  be  guided,  as  he  is  guided,  by  the  social  intellect, 
armed  with  all  the  knowledge  that  all  individuals  combined, 
with  so  great  labor,  zeal,  and  talent  have  placed  in  its  posses- 
sion, constituting  the  social  intelligence."  ® 

Now  it  must  be  confessed  that  modern  society  is  far  from 
"having  attained  the  condition  here  implied.  It  has  barely 
entered  upon  the  rational  stage  of  social  evolution.  Here  and 
there  may  indeed  be  found  vague  indications  of  a  social  con- 
sciousness as  manifested  in  some  example  of  sociotelic  action.. 
A  democratic  form  of  government,  certain  instances  of  legis- 
ation,  and  the  social  employment  of  an  educational  system  for 
promoting  social  welfare  may  be  cited  as  initial  steps  in  the 
sociotelic  field.  But  there  is  as  yet  no  true  democracy,  and  the 
legislative  and  educational  factors,  tho  popularly  designed  for 
the  advancement  of  general  well-being,  are  still  almost  univer- 
sally employed  as  means  for  conserving  or  promoting  personal 
or  class  interests.  Social  progress  has  hitherto  taken  place 
almost  entirely  under  the  operation  of  natural  forces,  and  has 
consequently  illustrated  the  wastefulness  and  extravagance  ob- 
served in  the  lowest  processes  of  nature.  /  The  progress  which 
has  been  achieved  by  modifications  of  the  material  environ- 
ment, by  legislative  enactments,  and  by  systems  of  education 
has  been  usually  the  unintended  result  of  movements  to  pro- 
mote other  ends.  It  has  not  been  the  object  primarily  sought ">> 
to  be  attained.  Neither  education,  legislation,  nor  the  subjec-  / 
tion  of  nature  can  produce  the  most  wholesome  effects  as/^ 
factors  in  social  development  unti|  they  are  scientifically  or-y 
dered  by  the  social  consciousness.  /  We  are  just  now  entering 
upon  the  sociotelic,  or  socially  conscious,  stage  of  social  evolu- 
tion, the  possibilities  of  which  are  almost  undreamed  of. 

Now,  in  the  progress  of  society  thru  the  various  stages  of 
evolution,  what  are  the  place  and  function  of  the  school  ?     The 

^  Psychic  factors  of  civilization,  p.  324. 


1902]  Education  and  social  progress  367 

school  doubtless  originated  as  a  means  of  hastening  individual 
development,  and  was  used  without  any  thought  of  its  social 
value.  Thruout  its  history  it  has  chiefly  been  regarded  as  an 
instrument  to  be  employed  in  realizing  individual  and  institu- 
tional ends.  In  our  own  country  it  was  at  first  chiefly  employed 
by  the  Church.  Not  until  we  had  won  our  independence  was 
it  consciously  used  as  a  means  of  realizing  distinctively  and 
primarily  social  ends.  Even  then  the  consciousness  of  its 
social  value  rested  with  a  few  educators  and  statesmen,  who 
had  themselves  formulated  some  conception  of  a  social  ideal 
towards  which  they  were  striving.  It  still  awaits  its  ordered 
application  by  a  thoroly  conscious  society  to  reveal  its  full 
value  as  a  factor  in  social  eyolution.  With  the  development  of 
the  social  consciousness,  it  will  become  more  and  more  the 
means  par  excellence  whereby  society  may  formulate  its  own 
purposes  and  further  its  own  development.  When  we  have 
planted  in  the  schools  the  seeds  of  an  ideal  humanity,  we  may 
confidently  depend  upon  its  realization,  for  we  have  initiated 
a  movement  the  inevitable  result  of  which  will  be  the  attain- 
ment of  the  preconceived  ideal.  As  Emerson  has  somewhere 
said,  "  the  effect  already  blooms  in  the  cause,  and  the  fruit  pre- 
exists in  the  seed."/ 

Changes  in  the  agencies  employing  the  school  have  been  ac- 
companied by  changes  in  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
employed.  In  America,  for  instance,  the  purpose  of  the  school 
has  been  in  turn  religious,  political,  economic,  moral,  and 
social.  Always,  however,  the  idea  of  protection  or  defense  has 
been  emphasized  as  the  function  of  education.  The  individual 
was  to  be  protected  against  the  wiles  of  that  "  old  deluder 
Satan,"  or  against  the  machinations  of  the  demagog,  or 
against  his  own  rivals  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Our  in- 
stitutions were  to  be  guarded  by  education  against  the  attacks 
of  ignorance.  The  idea  is  embodied  in  the  formula,  "  Educa- 
tion the  safeguard  of  our  institutions,"  or,  "  Education  the 
bulwark  of  the  Republic."  This  is  all  very  well,  but,  as  society 
becomes  more  conscious  of  its  own  interests  and  its  own  pos- 
sibilities, it  will  be  seen  that  the  true  function  of  the  school, 
both  individually  and  socially,  is  not  negative,  but  positive;  not 


368  Educational  Review  [April 

self-defense,  but  self-realization.  Not  the  protection,  but  the 
perfection,  of  our  institutions  is  the  real  function  of  education. 
Adequate  performance  of  this  function,  however,  is  only  pos- 
sible in  a  society  thoroly  conscious  of  its  activities  and  its 
interests. 

/  The  development  of  the  social  consciousness,  then,  is  a 
desideratum  of  the  greatest  importance.  If  it  is  to  the  interest 
of  the  social  group  to  put  the  individual  in  the  way  of  educat- 
ing himself,  so  that  in  his  development  means  may  be  eco- 
nomically employed  and  time  and  energy  saved,  it  is  of  almost 
infinitely  greater  importance  that  the  group  itself  should  ad- 
vance rapidly  towards  the  realization  of  a  social  consciousness 
which  will  result  in  the  ordered  utilization  of  all  possible 
factors  in  social  evolution. 

As  has  been  shown,  the  factors  in  social  development  are  the 
external  and  the  internal,  or  the  physical,  the  societary,  and  the 
social.  The  individually  or  socially  conscious  attempt  to 
utilize  any  or  all  of  these  factors,  to  mold  the  members  of  a 
social  group  into  conformity  with  a  preconceived  social  ideal, 
is  education  in  the  conventional  sense.  |  Education,  therefore, 
from  the  social  evolutionary  point  of  view,  is  a  means  of  social 
transformation.  (  The  school  is  an  instrument  for  modifying 
the  character  of  society.  I  Whether  this  modification  is  in  the 
direction  of  social  improvement  depends  upon  the  ideas  and 
ideals  of  those  who  handle  the  instrument.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  may  expect  that  education  will  always  be  directed  in 
the  interest  of  the  ruling  class.  Despots,  benevolent  and  other- 
wise, and  dominant  classes  have  consciously  employed  educa- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  molding  society  into  conformity  with  a 
social  ideal  conceived  by  themselves.  This  ideal,  however,  em- 
bodied primarily  their  own  interests,  or  the  interests  of  their 
class  or  their  favorite  institutions,  and  not  those  of  the  social 
group  in  general.  Only  in  a  democracy  is  it  possible  for  the 
people  to  take  the  educational  instrument  into  their  own  hands, 
perfect  it,  and  use  it  in  the  realization  of  a  socially  conceived 
ideal.  This  will  be  done  only  in  proportion  to  the  development 
of  a  social  consciousness. 

I  The  development  of  a  social  consciousness,  then,  should  be  an 


1902]  Education  and  social  progress  369 

immediate  and  primary  object  of  the  school,  yutside  of 
school  influences  the  growth  of  a  social  consciousness  in  the 
individual  is  likely  to  take  place  wholly  as  a  natural,  that  is  to 
say  a  slow,  process.  In  the  school  it  may  be  accelerated  by  the 
conscious  effort  of  the  teacher  to  impart  knowledge  and  to 
develop  interests  and  habits  of  thought  that  will  result  in  the 
formation  of  a  social  consciousness  in  the  individual.  If  our 
schools  should  turn  out  individuals  properly  equipped  with 
social  knowledge  and  feeling,  and  with  the  habit  of  considering 
social  interests  as  primary,  the  social  consciousness  would 
rapidly  integrate. 

Supposing,  however,  a  high  development  of  the  social  or 
group  consciousness,  it  cannot  be  manifested  in  social  action  to 
promote  progress  without  some  sort  of  social  ideal  towards 
which  society  may  endeavor  to  move.  The  projection  of  a 
social  ideal,  or  societary  aim,  then,  must  precede  the  conscious 
and  effective  social  employment  of  educational  means  to  ac- 
celerate progress.  While  the  school  is  consciously  endeavor- 
ing to  develop  the  social  consciousness,  it  must  at  the  same 
time  consciously  assume  the  task  of  developing  individuals  in 
the  direction  of  fitness  for  a  rational  social  ideal.  This  it  can- 
not do  unless  the  teacher  himself  has  a  conception  of  the  social 
ideal  in  the  realization  of  w^hich  the  school  is  a  factor.  Here, 
again,  is  suggested  the  value  to  the  teacher  of  an  acquaintance 
with  the  laws  of  the  evolutionary  process,  individual  and 
social. 

I  The  first  great  demand,  then,  in  the  endeavor  to  apply  the 
principle  of  economy  in  social  development,  and  thus  to  direct, 
the  social  use  of  the  educational  factor,  is  a  social  ideal,  or 
societary  aim,  towards  which  our  educational  system  and  peda- 
gogical practices  may  be  orientated.  This  is  the  primary 
requisite  in  directing  the  work  of  the  school  or  in  the  criticism 
of  its  methods.  The  construction  of  such  an  aim  has  been 
variously  attempted,  but  such  attempts  have  usually  been 
imaginative,  rather  than  scientific.  Plato,  St.  Augustine, 
Dante,  Campanella,  Sir  Thomas  More,  Bacon,  Bellamy,  and 
many  others  have  presented  pictures  of  what  they  thought 
society  ought  to  be.     Modern  scientific  socialism  has  endeav- 


370 


Educational  Review 


ored  to  forecast  what  it  must  inevitat^  become.  All  of  these 
projections  of  a  future  humanity  are  more»or  less  visionary. 
In  spite  of  the  visionary  character  of  past  atmpts,  however^ 
and  of  the  aclmowledged  difficulties  in  attempting  tq  forecast 
in  any  respect  the  course  of  future  social  development,  we  hold 
that  the  greatest  service  which  modern  social  study  can  render 
pedagogy  is  to  formulate  on  the  basis  of  a  scientific  knowledge 
of  the  social  process,  and  the  latent  possibilities  of  human  life, 
a  rational  conception  of  an  ideal  humanity  in  the  realization  of 
which  the  educational  factor  may  be  consciously  employed. 

The  University  o^  ^  ■:^^M, 


% 


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2\*ai 


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■^.-CD  LD 


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REC'D  LD 


OEC    5'B;j-7['M 


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REC'D  LD 


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(B6221sl0)476B 


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